Best Tent Camping near Cleburne, TX

Reserved on-line 184 days prior to arrival. 

Pros Site in large oak tree grove, so heavily shaded 

Campground night sky friendly with good dark sky viewing NO STREET LIGHTS in campground., but toilet facilities had exterior lighting 

Crushed granite surrounding site and bordered with landscaping timbers 

Metal roof shelter over concrete slab where picnic table is located 

Metal picnic table 

Cooking grill on metal fire ring 

Campground mostly quiet except for Hwy 31 traffic noise 

Friendly camp host 

Security gate closed nightly 

Not charged a fee to make my own on-line reservation 

Campsite discount with America the Beautiful Pass 

Cons 

Entrance gate not manned upon arrival at 2pm Tuesday so had to go back around after unhitched 

Our site 14 was not marked. Most sites have site number on site picnic table. Even those are tough to see in the daylight and impossible to see in darkness. Absolutely no roadside site number posts 

Campsite 14 entrance driveway was 90 degree angle to park road with a steep ditch on opposite side of road. T

rees close on both sides tight to site 14 driveway. Made back in challenging, but not impossible. 

Campsite 14 entrance/driveway 10% grade from park road 

Campsite 14 not level side to side 

Site fire ring was up against landscaping timber preventing space for chairs 

Landscaping timbers trip hazard at fire ring

Fire ring should be relocated to side or back of site to facilitate safe movement around it Fire ring was completely filled with ash upon arrival No privacy from other campsites Shower/toilet facility near playground had padlock on mens entrance, so males were using the womens restroom. This facility in extremely poor condition and desperately needs renovation. 

No campsite lantern pole 

No park Wifi 2

 bars AT&T 

Never saw any park rangers or park security driving through campground 

Wildlife sightings of grey squirrels and two dozen buzzards that constantly circled over campground

Nice camping spot for families. I chose to camp in the north primitive hike-in sites across the river. It was pretty hot but I still had a good time exploring the hiking trails. If you go hiking, take a map and of course extra water. My map came in handy a couple of times as I was hiking as the actual trails led me off track a few times.

I stayed in the primitive camping area. You hike between 1-2.5 miles across the river to sites. If the river is too high these sites may be closed. Water is only available at the trailhead. These sites are primitive so they do not have showers, restrooms, picnic tables or water.

Other sites available:

• Campsites with electricity (Picnic tables, water hookup, electric, fire ring)
• Walk-in campsites (Fire ring, lantern post)
• Group camp (fire ring, water nearby, three picnic tables)

Generally I’ll stay at a KOA for a night when traveling through. They are like McDonald’s, nothing special but you know what to expect. This one was below par even for a KOA. We arrived just at 5:00 pm but the office was already closed. Didn’t see any staff before we left in the morning. Out checking information was available on the bulletin board. A sign said there were no more available sites, but there were clearly over 40 empty spaces. Many of the sites need new picnic tables, and the trees are full of dead branches. However the grass was mowed. Sites are very close together. Closer than most. There is a grassy dog park. There is also the a playground- a swing set! Also a pool which appears functional. Bathroom and showers were adequate. !

There is an RV repair facility next door.

We had limited weekends to take the grandkids camping. It has been raining non stop all over Texas. I began to look for places within 2 hours of Fort Worth. Texas State Parks are a great. I settled on Lake Whitney. They have these shelter sites that are awesome. For $30 per night ($10 per night more than normal e&w site) plus $5 per adult gate fee. That may not be economical for everyone, but $40 for an overnight camp was fine. The shelters are very clean and well kept. Inside is a picnic table and enough floor space for another plus some. So if your tent fails in you go. The top of walls are screened and bottom solid. I set up my camp kitchen and we ate meals inside due to weather. We set up our large tent behind the shelter to block wind from the lake. The site also had it's own parking, another table outside and fire ring. We had site 4 right across from the lake and swimming area. The bath house was very clean and only a short walk. You can fish license free from the shore. There are 5 or 6 moderate hiking trails. Also the park is home to plenty of woodland animals. The 4 yo and I took a 2 am bathroom break and saw a herd of dear about 30 head.

The park is very good for families and fishing.

There are also a boat ramp, small airstrip and day use areas.

The staff is awesome.

We stayed here on the last night of a two-week journey visiting national parks in the West. This just happened to be on our route back home to Louisiana and looked like a pleasant place for us to spend one night.

We arrived at the campground around 8:00 on a Friday night and had to wait in line to enter the park. The park ranger was very friendly and thorough (albeit slow giving directions for road-weary travelers such as us). We found site 123 in the H Loop easily (sites are clearly marked) and set up camp. We were impressed with the spacing and privacy of the sites. We had a slight peekaboo view of the lake and a beautiful sunset from the trailer. It took us a while to get our trailer leveled as the site was on a pretty big slant (four inches off left to right and eight inches front to back); however, the pad was concrete and quite wide.

A bathhouse and dumpster were nearby, which was a nice convenience. Hookups were in good condition as well. There was a small back yard with a covered picnic table, fire ring, and lantern post which we thought would be nice if we would have been here longer. This little area was very private from the road and a neighboring site. We would definitely stay here again when our travels take us this way in the future.

Made my reservation on line just a few spots were available. Spot 04 with a water view space is slanted. They had the parking pass ready to pick up so it was not necessary to speak with anyone. The view, electricity, water, and showers was very nice at such an affordable price. Take your cleaning supplies into the bathroom as a precaution, I did not see trash can in the bathrooms. Leave No Trace is not really practiced by other campers so feel free to pick up after someone else this space is beautiful and deserves respect. I enjoyed the rain and the view it was very relaxing and I appreciated a shower as well as powering all my extras before heading on the road to Minnesota. $14 for the space very appreciate.

Site #33 is for tent camping so there was no electric or water. The website said no toilets but there was a port-a-potty about 40 yards from our site along with a water spigot.  The site was fairly level and comes with a covered picnic table and enough trees to provide shade and hang a couple of hammocks. The folks that work there are wonderful.  The only caveat to the site is that it is right next to a Marina, so there are boats coming and going and partying going on which didn't bother us but just be aware.  At 10:00 p.m. all that stopped and it got quiet. Unfortunately it was hotter than hell Labor Day Weekend  when we set up on Friday and slept overnight so we picked up and went home on Saturday. Nothing to do with the site.  There are similar sites to the left and right of this site,  They are staggered so you are not right next to someone which was nice.